The Division gals at Greenhouse

Chocolate Parfait with Pink Bubbles

Had dinner with the Division girls after Conference at Greenhouse in Perth. Wanted to check out this trendy restaurant that recycles and uses good quality produce. The tapas style evening eats are great to to share and most are or can be gluten free and staff were helpful. Could have been even better if had a gluten free bread or pizza base option as I was left a little hungry. The tapas is all imaginatively presented on recycled materials. The dessert I had was a very yummy chocolate parfait with pink bubbles! Other desserts looked delicious with apple tarts, rice pudding and blood orange trifles. Check out the Greenhouse website.

Had a great time at my 40th birthday lunch at the Old Coast Road Brewery at Myalup. They don’t do GF beer but have great wine and good food, I had a couple of gluten free options including grilled steak with jacket potato and salad. Aubrey ordered me some yummy gluten free chocolate cupcakes the same as we had at our wedding in February from Cupcake Cottage.

GF Chocolate Cupcakes

Today is my 40th birthday and Aubrey, Kyle and I went for dinner at Nicola’s. I had Involtini di Pollo – free range chicken breast filled with sundried tomato, roast capsicum and mozarella cheese with parmesan polenta and mixed forest mushroom sauce. The Insalata gorgonzola salad with sweet glazed pear was delicious. For dessert I had the La banana ed il semifreddo di rum scuro – banana and dark rum semifreddo complete with birthday decorations. The staff were very helpful with the gluten free options on the menu.

Happy Birthday Dessert

Made Apricot Chicken in TM from the recipe in the Everyday Cookbook. It turned out fantastic, lovely colour as well as taste and texture.

Apricot Chicken

For dessert made a chocolate sorbet from recipe at Quirky Cooking

Chocolate Sorbet

I changed the espresso for Kahlua and it needed a bit more ice as was a bit runny. The next day after being in the freezer was more frozen and did not go too icy, stayed creamy and rich!

I made my own hollandaise sauce today using the amazing Thermomix! Never would have attempted this otherwise. It turned out fantastic, lovely hint of lemon, creamy and almost mousse like. Tasted lovely on eggs benedict with salmon and baby spinach. Used a Bodhi Bread gluten free bun which take the place of a toasted english muffin well.

4 egg yolks
130g unsalted butter
Juice 1/2 lemon
Salt and pepper to tast

Insert butterfly in TM bowl and place all ingredients into TM bowl.
Cook for 8 minutes at 90 degrees celsius on speed 3.

Eggs Benedict with Hollandaise Sauce

Can highly recommend the gluten free Orange & Almond cake at Cafe 140 opposite the post office in Bunbury. Yes this cake is in a lot of cafe’s as the gluten free option but this is well worth it and served with lovely cream and orange sauce. The Five Senses coffee is also great.

Gluten Free Orange & Almond Cake

Thanks Lorelle for the amazing Thermomix home demo tonight and thanks to Faye and Jen who came along to sample the great food! I cannot wait until mine arrives. Loved the fruit sorbet, dips, beetroot salad, pasta and lemon custard! Thermomix even publish a gluten/wheat free cookbook I will be trialling some of these recipes very soon and posting the results.

Lorelle doing Thermomix home demo!

If you would like to see Thermomix in action and how it can make healthy, gluten and additive free cooking easy contact Lorelle, Thermomix consultant on 0439 420 693 or dlrafferty@westnet.com.au

Thank you to everyone that came out for morning tea at Caf Fez today. The cafe had plenty of gluten free treats and good coffee. It was good to meet you all and hear plenty of information being shared! Let me know if you find a good place to eat or a recipe that would like to publish on my blog! Planning to have a dinner at Simply Thai later in 2010 and also arrange a get together for the kids at Big Swamp playground.

Had a go at making Soda Bread recipe from Cyndi’s “Changing Habits Changing Lives” cookbook and it turned out well, nice and dense bread with a smudge of organic butter. I did find the bread took more like 60 minutes to bake and for the skewer to come out clean. I used a mix of brown rice, besan, potato, arrowroot and maize flour but did not include soy flour as does not agree with my digestion! I also sprinkled top of loaf with some more sesame seeds and chia seeds.

2 organic free range eggs
400ml sparkling mineral water
2 tablespoons cold pressed macadamia oil
1 tablespoon tahini
3.5 cups gluten free flour mix (see above)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
In a glass bowl combine eggs, water, oil and tahini, mix well.
Add flour, salt and sesame seeds and mix well.
Scrape into a lined loaf tin and bake for approximately 40 minutes.
Test with a skewer, if comes out clean the bread is ready.

Gluten Free Soda Bread